His Own Pure Heart
by Zeng Li
Summary: THIS is what happens when it's Professor Souichi Tomoe's heart that gets snatched!


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"His Own Pure Heart"

By: [Artemis Moon][1]

In the dim light of the Witches 5 underground base, beneath the prestigious Mugen School, Eugeal was hard at work behind the illumination of her computer screen. The phone on her desk rang, and she picked it up, wedging it between her ear and her shoulder so she could continue typing with both hands.

"Tomoe here," came the man's voice from the other end.

Eugeal sat more upright but kept typing. "Hello, Doctor."

"The next Daimon pod is almost ready. Have you selected a target likely to have one of the pure hearts we're looking for?"

"I can have the target selected in just a few seconds." Her hands feverishly tapped from one program to the other while she remained placid in every other way. "Do you have any kind of candidate in mind today, Doctor Tomoe?"

"Surprise me…" came his reply, said in a tone that suggested he was in a rather fun mood today. Despite that, he abruptly hung up the phone without even a good-bye.

Eugeal put the handset down and inputted random criteria in order for her custom-made database to select the next target for snatching the pure heart crystal out of. Her fingers finally got a rest during the time it took the PC to compile the information and draw up the profile on the selected man or woman.

The screen lit up with Japanese characters and finally two pictures of the candidate. Eugeal's eyes opened wide at the image that appeared, and her glasses nearly slid off her nose.

= = = =

Eugeal walked the dark halls to the elevator that she'd use to sink deeper into the laboratory. Her eyes remained focused on her weapon, a portable heart-snatching gun. It was all charged up and ready to fire, but was her finger ready to pull the trigger?

In her loss of concentration, she bumped into Mimete, who was coming towards her with her head buried in a manga.

"_Hey!!_" the two girls squealed at each other.

Mimete picked her magazine off the floor. "Watch where you're going, Eugeal!" she scolded.

"Get your head out of those comic books, Mimete!"

"Get your head out of the clouds, and maybe I'll…"

"Ladies…?" came a woman's voice from behind. It was the green-haired witch, Tellulu, who was always looking for weaknesses in the others to report in order to gain the professor's favor.

Mimete tucked her comic into her lab coat, and Eugeal took better hold of her 2-handed heart-snatching weapon. Mimete walked off without a word.

Eugeal ignored the nosy Tellulu and walked down the hall towards the elevator again. The distraction had been brief, and her mind started the warring with itself again. She was actually hoping that the elevator would get stuck so she'd have even more excuse to stall for time.

What were the repercussions going to be? Would the professor find out and singe her to death? Would the other witches accuse her of treachery?

She was so trapped in her own thoughts, the elevator doors had been open for a while before she realized and stepped out. Walking slowly, she made her way through the large room at the risk of seeming timid.

"Hello, Eugeal…"

Eugeal gasped and clutched her weapon to keep from dropping it. Wide and startled eyes scanned the room until finding the shadowy figure of Professor Tomoe across the way. His glasses reflected white circles of light against an otherwise obscured-in-darkness face.

"What's the matter, Eugeal? Not up for heart-snatching?" he teased her.

She took in a few sharp breaths. _No, not really…_her mind told her.

"Doctor…?"

He walked up to her and put both his hands on her shoulders, his illuminated glasses looking into her eyes as if reading her inner soul.

"You don't look well, Eugeal," he said. Though not a medical doctor, he was observant enough. "Perhaps I should send one of the others on this mission."

"N--no… That's all right," she managed.

"I should have known. Your repeated encounters with the Sailor Scouts has left you drained. Let me send Mimete or Tellulu on this one."

"No! No!" She fought hard to compose herself so not to look weak in the doctor's eyes. She swallowed hard and bent her head down for just a moment. Looking up, she inhaled steadily, her mind racing for another stall tactic. _The Daimon Master…has one weakness in this world._ "Professor," she managed to sound halfway sane. "Can we go upstairs?"

"Upstairs?" he questioned her unusual request.

"To the Tomoe residence…"

He contemplated her from his shadowy veil for a few moments. "If you insist, Eugeal. Though I don't know what's come over you."

They walked through the dark lab until they came to one of the two secret doors that spilled out into the world of light above. Eugeal shyly watched Professor Tomoe step out of the shadows. The light of the mansion and the sunlight outside reflected his true colors. His pale skin…his young face…his unusual mop of white hair…and lastly, the mark of the Daimon Master in his glasses' right lens.

__

It was worth it just for this, she thought to herself, seeing the professor's handsome features for the first time in a long while. But all the more painful it would be to tell him the truth.

"Daddy! You're home!" said the young voice of his only daughter, Hotaru.

"Oh!" he said upon seeing her happily wave to him from the living room. "I won't be long, Hotaru. Why don't you run along? Daddy's here on business."

__

Excellent timing, little girl, Eugeal thought to herself, her eyes narrowing as she plotted. She waited for just the right time when Hotaru turned away and just before Professor Tomoe looked back at her.

As Professor Tomoe turned back to his hired witch, he was met with a sight that took his mind a few seconds to re-evaluate to be sure he knew what he was seeing.

Much as it pained her, Eugeal fought to over-ride hesitation. She kept her gun aimed at his chest, peering through the viewfinder at his stunned expression.

"Eugeal!?" he asked.

"The target likely to have a pure heart…is _you_, Souichi Tomoe!"

"Eugeal, no!" he lurched, but she pulled the trigger.

The professor's body seemed suspended in time for just a minute. The beam had pierced him through the sternum and into the heart underneath. As the professor's body collapsed, hovering above remained the pure heart crystal enveloped in an aura of light.

Eugeal stunned herself. Slowly, she walked up to the glowing orb and crystal to analyze it for herself. Was it pure!? Did it have special powers!?

The orb hovered above the palm of her hand. She looked down at the lifeless body by her feet. The one that could answer her question was not responding at all.

The light from the crystal mezmerized her. Would the Sovereign of Silence appreciate her bringing in the pure heart of Pharoah 90's chief human puppet? Did Souichi Tomoe serve any purpose that the dark forces still needed him for?

She began to feel sweat on her skin. Her heart wanted to palpitate some times, and completely stop at others.

She screamed as a hand clenched around her ankle. Looking down, she saw the pale form of Dr. Tomoe holding onto her and climbing to its feet. Though such movements weren't unheard of from her victims, there was something different about the heart-snatched doctor. Was it that the heart of the Daimon Master was now the only one inside the body? Or had she snatched the Daimon Master and left the good doctor's heart inside him?

"What have you done, Eugeal!?" His growl and evil eyes told her that it was Souichi's heart that was in her hand.

He grew weak, though and collapsed again. She thought she heard mutterings again and leaned in closer.

__

IS IT PURE…? IS MY HEART PURE…? his voice asked softly. It was the voice of Souichi over-riding the Daimon Master.

Eugeal looked at the heart again as it glowed relentlessly in her hand. She closed her eyes, the wetness of a tear dampening her eyelashes. A few breaths later, she opened her eyes, allowing the accumulated tear to slide down her cheek.

__

YES… she said in a low voice, soft and sweet. _IT'S A PURE HEART…_

Her hands lowered, taking the orb containing the fragile heart crystal with them. She held it over his weak body for a few seconds before parting her hands, allowing the crystal to sink back into the body from which it had come.

Some color returned to the handsome doctor's flesh. He moaned and tried to sit up.

Eugeal tossed her gun aside and assisted him.

"Ugh… What happened…?" asked his human voice.

Eugeal fought to think of an explaination, as telling the truth seemed to be out of the question. "If anyone should be getting more rest, it's _you_, Professor."

"Huh…?" he blinked, holding a hand against the back of his neck.

"Daddy…?" came the curious voice of Hotaru again.

__

Timing, kid… Help me out again…please…!? Eugeal's mind pleaded so hard as if it could put the idea into the young girl's head.

"Is everything okay?" the girl asked.

"Yeah…"

Eugeal sweated again. _Oh, thank goodness she wasn't around when I was holding his pure heart. Mistress 9 would have seen and taken over her, and there'd be no keeping the heart crystal away from her grasp._

Tomoe turned back to the crimson-haired witch. "What was it you wanted to tell me, Eugeal?"

"Uh…" she fought to think of something, though she wasn't totally happy with that which her voice decided to speak. "I really do need a rest, Doctor."

Tomoe laughed lightly and touched her shoulder. "Is that all you dragged me up here to say?" he said mildly.

She blushed a little and shrugged. "Uh…yeah. That's all. I just…I just didn't want the others to hear. That's all."

"It's okay, Eugeal," he walked back towards the secret door with her under his arm. "I won't tell the other girls. Your secret is safe with me."

__

And your_ secret is safe with _me! Eugeal thought to herself as they continued on to the lab.

****

THE END

Characters and plot elements are based on Sailor Moon S, the animated series, and are used without permission from the creators of Sailor Moon. This fanfic is the original work of "[Artemis Moon][1]". © 2000. BTW: "Artemis Moon" is an alternate pen name for "[Zeng][2]" for when I write Sailor Moon fics, so _get used to it!!_

   [1]: mailto:artemis_moon84@hotmail.com
   [2]: mailto:tseng588@earthlink.net



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